General Recording & Workflow Feedback

[DrewJD82]

So I already have them routing to a guitar bus, but this might be a method to do that next time. I need to look at the folder stack option.

I went over that on my huge ass write-up last night, with pics to show examples, it’s the Track Stacks section. There are two different kinds of stacks you can create, I just create summing stacks (sums all the audio to one fader) and I’m not even sure what the other one does. And even if you create a Track Stack, the outputs of all the tracks within that stack can still be going to a bus and the volume can be controlled by that bus.

IE- You have 4 tracks of guitar and all are routed to come out of Bus 1, but your Main Window is getting filled up and to tidy up, you can create a Track Stack of those 4 guitar tracks, so pressing the little triangle shrinks them to one track instead of 4, while still giving you the ability to add plug-ins to the individual tracks, pan them, adjust the volumes. You now just have 3 different areas where you can control the volumes- The individual track’s faders, the Track Stack fader and the Bus 1 fader.

 

[TJontheRoad]

My workflow can vary greatly depending on what instrument and/or other source of inspiration gets things started. I do almost always begin with this template that has all of my gear pre-assigned to the respective track inputs from the different interfaces I use. This is big time saver for me.

I modify, add, and/or delete tracks as needed. I often record sections of instruments on two overlapping tracks and then bus them to a single mix track. Here's a fairly simple example of the "Frame Of Mind" track I posted recently.

Things get crazy with more complex arrangements. I use tempo changes and markers for indicating chord changes. I will arrange sections of instrumentation vertically with the tracks along the timeline. This example is from the "Strange Cold Blues" track.

The sh1t really hits the fan with this "Loose Cannon" track. The tracks shown here don't include the original external MIDI recordings. I often record external synths as MIDI track before actually recording the audio. This allows me to edit and fine tune the track before committing to it. Sort of like synth re-amping.

Guitars only get low cut most times. This is mostly true when using my FM9. I dial up a tone I like and stick with it. More massaging happens when I record my real amps. I recently have been using the Oeksound Smooth 2 plugin on guitars where there is some harshness. I does wonders mellowing out transitions. Highly recommended.

For mixing, I rarely actually use the mixer. I almost all my mixes are using track automation. I do use Ozone for the last bit of polish. I'm a practitioner of negative mixing techniques but that's whole other topic.

I've been using Logic since it was called "Creator" on the Atari ST. While I know pretty well, I still learn new stuff every session.

 

[duzie]

The information and discussions provided in this thread are inspiring to say the least !
I’m a novice at using a Daw (Logic) and this is helpful to me

 

[Whizzinby]

My workflow can vary greatly depending on what instrument and/or other source of inspiration gets things started. I do almost always begin with this template that has all of my gear pre-assigned to the respective track inputs from the different interfaces I use. This is big time saver for me.

I modify, add, and/or delete tracks as needed. I often record sections of instruments on two overlapping tracks and then bus them to a single mix track. Here's a fairly simple example of the "Frame Of Mind" track I posted recently.

Things get crazy with more complex arrangements. I use tempo changes and markers for indicating chord changes. I will arrange sections of instrumentation vertically with the tracks along the timeline. This example is from the "Strange Cold Blues" track.

The sh1t really hits the fan with this "Loose Cannon" track. The tracks shown here don't include the original external MIDI recordings. I often record external synths as MIDI track before actually recording the audio. This allows me to edit and fine tune the track before committing to it. Sort of like synth re-amping.

Guitars only get low cut most times. This is mostly true when using my FM9. I dial up a tone I like and stick with it. More massaging happens when I record my real amps. I recently have been using the Oeksound Smooth 2 plugin on guitars where there is some harshness. I does wonders mellowing out transitions. Highly recommended.

For mixing, I rarely actually use the mixer. I almost all my mixes are using track automation. I do use Ozone for the last bit of polish. I'm a practitioner of negative mixing techniques but that's whole other topic.

I've been using Logic since it was called "Creator" on the Atari ST. While I know pretty well, I still learn new stuff every session.

I thought about demoing Soothe to use on guitars. My fear is I’ll like it and then have to pay the ransom for it.

 

[Whizzinby]

A couple stupid questions I could probably google:

1. How do I set a fade in or out
2. Is there a way to save the names of the drums in the piano roll? Like the stock Logic drums had some sort of text box that showed what each key did, when I went over to using GGD I lost those text boxes and it makes for way too much trial and error on every drum segment.



I think also whenever I get done with my next track I’m going to save it as a template. Maybe try to have most of the heavy lifting setup before the next project.

 

[TJontheRoad]

A couple stupid questions I could probably google:

1. How do I set a fade in or out
2. Is there a way to save the names of the drums in the piano roll? Like the stock Logic drums had some sort of text box that showed what each key did, when I went over to using GGD I lost those text boxes and it makes for way too much trial and error on every drum segment.



I think also whenever I get done with my next track I’m going to save it as a template. Maybe try to have most of the heavy lifting setup before the next project.

1. Goto the "track" menu and select "Show Output Track". Use track automation on the output track to do fades.

2. Not sure.

 

[fretworn]

I have absolutely zero experience other than watching, YouTube… be forewarned … But I’ve seen people use a fader cursor.

I think it’s one of the tool handle cursor types. It allows you to quickly drop crossfades between two adjacent sections of music or just an endpoint (start or end).

 

[scole]

In Reaper, I implement fade in/out by making the master volume track visible (View Menu->Master Track) and then making the volume level envelope for that track visible (right-click the master track->Envelopes->Toggle Volume Visible). From there, you add points to the line and either manually drag them or right-click the points and enter a db level value.

 

[TJontheRoad]

I have absolutely zero experience other than watching, YouTube… be forewarned … But I’ve seen people use a fader cursor.

I think it’s one of the tool handle cursor types. It allows you to quickly drop crossfades between two adjacent sections of music or just an endpoint (start or end).

The fade cursor is in the individual track editor and can only be used for that given track. While it isn't a permanent edit, it can difficult to undo after doing other editing.

 

[DrewJD82]

A couple stupid questions I could probably google:

1. How do I set a fade in or out
2. Is there a way to save the names of the drums in the piano roll? Like the stock Logic drums had some sort of text box that showed what each key did, when I went over to using GGD I lost those text boxes and it makes for way too much trial and error on every drum segment.



I think also whenever I get done with my next track I’m going to save it as a template. Maybe try to have most of the heavy lifting setup before the next project.

For the whole song or an individual track/region?

And I don't believe there's a way to name the drums in the piano rolls, but don't worry, after your 500th song you become Neo and you see the drums in the boxes.

 

[Whizzinby]

For the whole song or an individual track/region?

And I don't believe there's a way to name the drums in the piano rolls, but don't worry, after your 500th song you become Neo and you see the drums in the boxes.

Just a specific track. I’d like to fade out one track while fading in another.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Just a specific track. I’d like to fade out one track while fading in another.

For audio regions, you could just use the fade tool available via the tool box, for instrument tracks you'd have to use automation. You can obviously use automation for audio tracks as well.
Both have their strengths and weaknesses. The fade tool is pretty easy to deal with IMO, but it works with the "raw" audio. In case that's a guitar DI track stuffed with driving amps, fading things out will result in the amp gain to become less in the first place. Otoh, IMO automation ist still a rather fiddly thing to deal with.

 

[DrewJD82]

Just a specific track. I’d like to fade out one track while fading in another.

How to Get the Most Out of Logic Pro X's Fade Tool

There are many tools in Logic Pro X, but few are as important as the Logic Pro X Fade Tool. Learn how to get the most out of this important mix tool:

whylogicprorules.com

This covers the fade tool with GIF’s to show you what they’re doing that makes it easier to describe, instead of saying “The little box on the top, in the middle with the drop down menu….”, but once you have the Fade tool selected it’s as easy as dragging the pointer to the edge of an audio track, holding down Option and dragging left/right. Super easy and like I said, I use it over automation all the time.

 

[Sascha Franck]

For audio files, the fade tool is just excellent. I wish this was available for MIDI regions too, using whatever hidden, additional, secondary volume parameter without having to deal with automation.

 

[Sascha Franck]

And I also wish it was available for audio files in "post" mode, so all insert processing wouldn't be affected. Hence pretty much the same thing as what I wish for MIDI regions.

 

[Whizzinby]

Thanks dudes figured out a couple ways to do the fades from the above. Have landed at least for this project on using the region box and putting in a numeric value for where to start the fade in/out. Seems to be working ok.

I’m going to do some google fu today and see if there is a way to label the piano roll, that would be awesome but I think Drew is right that my muscle memory remembering where things are will slowly improve.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Thanks dudes figured out a couple ways to do the fades from the above. Have landed at least for this project on using the region box and putting in a numeric value for where to start the fade in/out. Seems to be working ok.

Re: Fades via region box.
Sure, a valid way to do this. But, are you aware of the various toolbox options?
Rightclick can be assigned to a second tool (always the scissor for me on the arrange page, always the velocity tool in piano roll edit).
CMD-click can be assigned to a third tool. In the arrange page, I have my fade tool there by default.
ESC key brings up the toolbox whereever your mousepointer is, so you can always switch quickly.

 

[Whizzinby]

This is a stupid problem I have, but I avoid doing “takes” in Logic because I don’t know how to delete the first take if I end up liking the second take more. I somehow managed a comp of the two once, but surprisingly you can’t just highlight the first take and hit delete. (Or I was doing that wrong too)

Re: Fades via region box.
Sure, a valid way to do this. But, are you aware of the various toolbox options?
Rightclick can be assigned to a second tool (always the scissor for me on the arrange page, always the velocity tool in piano roll edit).
CMD-click can be assigned to a third tool. In the arrange page, I have my fade tool there by default.
ESC key brings up the toolbox whereever your mousepointer is, so you can always switch quickly.

I don’t think I’ve made it far enough in the journey for toolbox options. lol I have figured out how to use the scissors on highlighted tracks in the screen beneath the main window. Small steps forward I guess. Ha

Do you know if it’s possible to adjust levels of an individual segment of a track, rather than the entire track? I have a bass track that is divided into about 4 segments, but one is a little more present then I like. The only thing I could think of is creating a new bass track just for that one segment, which seems like overkill, but that was the only workaround I could dream up just to adjust the levels of that one part in isolation.

 

[fretworn]

OK I saw this really cool trick…

Logic has a function where you can just keep recording over the same looped section for multiple takes and it will layer them in separate tracks for you when you hit stop.

This looks like a killer feature for double tracking guitars. This will make it so easy.

I think this is a flex tool?

Memory is a little questionable right at the moment. (Plus, I just “saw” this on YouTube and have never done it myself yet. It’ll stick once I actually do it)

I’m sure there’s a video out there on it

 

[Sascha Franck]

Do you know if it’s possible to adjust levels of an individual segment of a track, rather than the entire track?

I guess we're talking audio here, right? With MIDI you could just drag the velocity down. For audio, use this here:

Will also be reflected in the waveform height.